Speculum Collage

Dominique Vitali is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in embroidery and printmaking. Her work focuses on her personal experiences living within the confines of a female body, exploring sexuality, religion, and body image. The shared narratives of childbirth, menstruation, dysmorphia, sexual violation, and societal scrutiny all come into play and find connections with the viewers in their shared commonality. Catholicism—its pageantry, its patriarchy, and the tightrope walk between madness and mysticism—has factored heavily into much of her imagery. The stories depicted are deeply personal and, filtered through the lens of a woman, inherently political. Dominique’s canvas of choice for her embroidered narratives is vintage lingerie, with its inherently sexual, incredibly personal, pre-existing histories. She finds it an interesting juxtaposition to tell her stories using a skill so entwined in feminine piety, all upon a canvas that is historically sexual in both its iconography (simultaneously enhancing and masking sexuality) as well as its proximity to the previous owner’s flesh. Dominique’s work in this medium plays with the aesthetic contrast between unexpected, bold imagery and delicate, utilitarian garments, oftentimes venturing unashamedly into deeply intimate subject matter. With her works on paper, Dominique is currently immersed in an ongoing series of large-scale monoprints that explore the narratives of various women, both fictional and non-fictional, whose stories have captivated her in the shift that occurs when re-imagined through a more contemporary female lens. Her hope is to find her own truths through literally reconstructing disjointed pieces of prints and stitching them together, re-forming her own interpretations of the stories. Dominique currently lives and works in the New York area, and has shown in galleries both in the U.S. and abroad. Recent highlights include a printmaking residency in Venice, Italy at Studio Fallani, and inclusion in the esteemed North American Printmaking Biennial. For examples of her work, please visit her website at .